Jesus: The Life, Teachings, and Relevance of a Religious Revolutionary

I may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but this book left me flat and somewhat agitated. I couldn't wait to be finished with it. Long winded diatribes, strange presumptions, crazy metaphors, when there was a point to make it took half a chapter to do it, other wise it kind of ambled along begging for somewhere to go. I'm not trying to be unkind, but I still have no clue what this book was about. I had to select 1 star, but I really mean zero stars.

I was ready to write a review to really get into this book when someone reminded me today, if you don't have anything nice to say, shut up.

So I will just say; I had 30 book darts point out contradictions, assumptions and facts that had no evidence.

I'm halfway through the book. It's very well written and proposes new thoughts (to me, a Luthern) about Christianity and Jesus. It's a book for someone open to liberal interpretations of the Bible & Jesus.

This is a well written and complete exposition of the modern interpretation of the life of Jesus, his actions and his teachings. It differentiates the metaphor of Jesus actions and teachings from the history that we know from reality and from historical investigation. It explains how so much of our Sunday School teaching is erroneous as literal history but that for those who will listen the metaphor is apparent. Borg is not a negativist telling what we have to stop believing but a scholar explaining why a different interpretation is more valid. So much of Biblical history has a different and rational explanation; Borg makes the Bible and the life of Jesus make a lot more sense.

If you have never read any of Mr. Borg's works, please do yourself a favor and pick up this book. While he has written other books on Jesus, specifically "Meeting Jesus Again For The First Time", this one dives much deeper and provides a rich and detailed study of who Jesus was and what he stands for. Mr. Borg does a great job of explaining his positions and providing definitions for the "big words". The material might be scary for Christians who are founded on literal understandings but can be quite a revelation, as it was for me. The message from Mr. Borg is that while much of Jesus' story might not be literally true, it has a more-than-literal truth that forms a comprehensive (and new for me)basis for an increased level of Christianity and a transformational relationship with God.

More than a decade ago, I read Borg's "Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time." It was a very thought provoking book. As a now retired university professor, I realize that our views and scholarship change as we acquire new information. I thought that this might be an "up grade" to his earlier book about Jesus, though, it was described as not being. Instead, it is a new creation and very informative. And, yes, Borg has matured through the years in describing Jesus.

I always knew the four gospels told different stories, but I did not have the scholarly knowledge about languages, the cultures of that day, the history of when each was written that Borg has. He revealed so much about the meaning of what Jesus said or did from all these different perspectives. And the translators all had different backgrounds, so they are part of the story.

This is the right book for those who question some of the stuff they were told when they were young, and find it hard to believe. It will give them a more believable picture of the person God sent to tell us what God is like.
I read a borrowed copy, then decided I want one of my own, so I can review parts of it at times.

Don't bother cracking this book open unless you're ready to be challenged. A fantastic volume, I swear that Borg has been inside my head.

Borg's book should be read by ever christian. Although I do not agree with all of his conclusions, I highly recommend his readable approch. I believe that he has problems seperating himself from the high probability of correct memory for the writers of the various books of the bible. Therefore the assurance of what Jesus really said or did, for Borg, is clearer than it is for me.

easy to read and makes a lot of sense. great book. I really enjoyed it and gave me a lot to think about.